Music at Midday downtown

National City Christian Church presents Music at Midday most Fridays from 12:15-1 pm.  The church is at 5 Thomas Circle NW in DC.  Donations are gratefully accepted. Detailed information at www.nationalcitycc.org or contact Rev. Dr. J. Michael McMahon at [email protected].

Music at Midday is taking off the month of January.

In honor of Black History Month, several February concerts will feature African American performers and music by African American composers. 

Feb. 7: Organist Ralph Holtzhauser (Youngstown, OH) performs music by Marcel Dupré, David Briggs, Louis-James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, and Felix Mendelssohn.

Feb. 14: Nigerian countertenor Andrew Chukwuka Egbuchiem (New York City) performs vocal music by African and African American composers, including arrangements of Negro spirituals by a variety of composers.

Feb. 21: Organist and composer Roy L. Belfield, Jr. (Towson, MD)  presents a program titled “The Organ Music of My Teachers, Mentors, and Colleagues,” featuring compositions by David Hegarty, Adolphus C. Hailstork, David C. Stills, John S.
Dixon, Phillip B. McIntyre, Buckner Gamby, Undine Smith Moore, and Théodore Dubois.

Feb. 28: French organist Laurent Jochum (Paris) performs music
by César Franck, Mons Leidvin Takle, Louis-James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, and Denis Bédard.

Organ events

Saturday Feb. 8, 10 am:  How to Plan for a Substitute Organist/Director. Workshop sponsored by the Potomac AGO chapter. St. Luke Lutheran Church, 9100 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Pastries and coffee at 9:30, program at 10 am.

Sunday, Feb. 9, 4 pm: Samuel Springer of Concord-St. Andrews United Methodist Church, Bethesda, plays a recital at the Franciscan Monastery, 1400 Quincy St. NE.

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 12:10 pm: Organist Laurent Jochum from France performs  Boëllmann’s Suite gothique,                       Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No. 6, Bédard’s Variations sur Christus Vincit, Franck’s Pièce héroïque, and Takle's Power of Life. Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW.

Sunday, March 2, 3 pm: Randy Sheets plays a recital to rededicate the organ at Old Post Chapel, Arlington Cemetery. Co-hosted by the NOVA chapter.

Sunday, March 2, 5 pm, Christ Church, Alexandria: Choral Evensong with guest organist Jerrick Cavagnaro, associate director of music at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston and winner of the 2024 AGO National Competition in Improvisation. Cavagnaro will play an extended prelude beginning at 4:40 and then accompany the choir with improvisations and in works by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange and Frank Boles. 118 N. Washington St. www.ccalex.org

Tuesday,  March 4, 12:10 pm:  Washington Bach Consort performs the cantata Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn, BWV 23. Organ prelude performed by Tom Sheehan. Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW.

Sunday, March 9, 4 pm: Todd Fickley of National Presbyterian Church plays a recital at the Franciscan Monastery, 1400 Quincy St. NE., Washington, DC.

Tuesday,  March 11, 12:10 pm: Organist Jinsun Cho performs Bruhns’ Praeludium in G,  J.S. Bach’s Concerto in G BWV 592, and Reubke's Sonata on the 94th Psalm. Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW.

Tuesday, April 1, 12:10 pm: Washington Bach Consort’s Noontime Cantata Series.  Organist Paul; Byssainthe, Jr. plays O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde gross, BWV 622, and  Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578.  Cantata: Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabattas, BWV 42.

Sunday, April 6, 4 pm: Trichapter recital, Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land, 1400 Quincy St. NE. Presented by members of the DC, Potomac and Northern Virginia Chapters.

Sunday, April 6, 5 pm, Christ Church, Alexandria.
Choral Evensong with guest organist J.J. Mitchell, dean of the NOVA AGO chapter and director of music at St. John Neumann Church in Reston, VA. Mitchell will play an extended prelude beginning at 4:40 and then accompany the choir in works by Philip Moore and William Bradley Roberts. 118 N. Washington St. www.ccalex.org

Sunday, May 4, 5 pm: Christ Church, Alexandria choir and instrumentalists present Robert Ray's Gospel Mass. 118 N. Washington St. www.ccalex.org

​Sunday, May 11, 4 pm: Laura Blevins Douglass and Melvin Goodwyn (duo) play a recital at the Franciscan Monastery, 1400 Quincy St. NE.

Tuesday, May 27, 12:10 pm: Organist Michał Szostak from Poland presents Bruhns’ Prelude and Fugue in E Minor (the Great), J.S. Bach's Air (on G string) from Orchestral Suite in D Major, Beethoven Symphony in C Minor, and more. Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW.